West Sixth Street Bridge at Shoal Creek
a.k.a. Pecan Street Bridge
W. 6th St. at Shoal Cr., Austin, TXThe 1887 West Sixth Street Bridge in Austin, Texas, is a three-arch masonry bridge spanning Shoal Creek. In a reversal of the usual pattern of short-span bridge replacement with factory-made truss bridges, this hand-built structure replaced an earlier iron bowstring arch. Its wide street dimension conforms to the width of the streets originally determined by Edwin Waller’s 1839 city plan, which allowed for the passage of wagons going in either direction, and also facilitated the installation of tracks for mule-drawn streetcars, which were first used in Austin in 1875. The bridge retains a high degree of integrity and is nominated to the National Register under Criterion C in the area of Engineering, at the local level of significance, and an excellent example of a multiple-arch masonry bridge built with local materials to carry vehicular traffic. The bridge also meets Criterion A in the area of Community Planning and Development as a structure that reflects the establishment of ambitiously-wide arterial streets in the City of Austin in the mid-19th century, as well as the city’s substantial investment in road infrastructure to encourage expansion beyond the original city plat. This bridge is one of the state's oldest masonry arches, is located at the site of the first bridge in Austin, and continues to serve one of the city's principal east-west arteries.
Local significance of the structure:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.